An A-list party, Wyoming style.

I attended a really great party last night at the home of a local attorney who hosts the event every July. It's the 5th year now and referred to as the Swollen Liver Ranch Reggae-fest. It started at 5pm and I drove through the park about 15 miles from the ranch to get there.

Driveway parking was scarce, so I parked on the street. I'm not sure why I found this amusing or photo-worthy, but seeing my car in all that wide open space was a lot different from east coast parties where cars are parked end to end and people in big cities or crowded neighborhoods where I've lived worry about parking between signs and not getting ticketed, towed, etc. And then of course, there are the mountain views in Wyoming.... most people here drive trucks, SUVs or Subarus. My car is always covered in dust!
 

 

                                                             Taken at 9PM as I was leaving...

The home wasn't visible from the street, so I proceeded down a long driveway and followed the frolicking dogs and sound of music to the party. It was a catered outdoor affair, with croquet set up on the lawn and two bands. The first was an excellent local quartet that played Sinatra type music.

There was plenty of beer, wine and liquor. Appetizers included shrimp cocktail, an assortment of cheeses, smoked salmon and local trout with capers and onions. After about an hour, the second band started to play.



The party was referred to as a reggae-fest on the Evite, but the band was a very "white" 7-8 person group with lots of brass instruments. I think they all play music on the side in addition to their day jobs... they were excellent, and people were dancing. Come to think of it, I haven't seen a black person since I arrived here last May. Not one... hmm.

Dinner was then set up and served buffet style. In addition to beef tenderloin and juicy pork ribs, there was tender quail which I hadn't eaten in years, and PLENTY of delicious lobster tails swimming in butter! What a treat... I had 3 and not much else! ;) Then came desserts...

The best part? Dom Perignon bubbly!

I met a fair haired, blued eyed retiree with a thick accent named Pablo who is from Chile and has a 2nd home here. It appears that many Jackson residents have 2nd homes in Chile or Argentina or at least spend part of our winter months there fishing before returning here to ski. I was also introduced to a super nice guy with a prosthetic leg who offered to take me fly fishing on my day off. As it turns out, he was a guide for 20 years, so I won't need to splurge on a pricey excursion now. I told him I'd bring the sandwiches and beer ;) He's also a friend of the manager at the ranch where I work, and her husband. He has a drift boat which I wasn't familiar with, having gone on my my one fly-fishing excursion in Alaska in 1992 using waders and/or fishing from shore. They're kind of cool looking, curved up at the bow and stern. Found this online:

The party host is an attorney with east coast roots and represents companies like Sony in music and publishing litigation. The Dornan family was also there. They own and operate the little "town" I posted about a few weeks ago, with its bar, restaurant, cabins, trading post, adventure sports, wine shop, gas station and more. The party was a great way to meet a lot of colorful locals and Jackson's movers and shakers, and the setting was perfect. A rare warm summer night at a casual yet upscale outdoor party with kids, dogs, croquet, food, views, booze and live music. Not many cowboy hats at this soiree... great time!

Climbing a mountain...

I have a bucket list of things I want to do before leaving Wyoming. My big splurges are going to be white water rafting and fly fishing excursions. As I work my way down the list, today I decided to hike to the top of Snow King Mountain while I was in town to run some errands on my day off. It was the original ski slope in Jackson, since 1939, and its base elevation is 6,237 feet. It's a 1,570 foot vertical climb to the top to an elevation of 7,808 feet above sea level.

By comparison, Lookout Mountain, TN where I grew up has an elevation of 1,850 at Point Park on the TN side and a base elevation of 682 feet, so... it would be easier to climb that than Snow King. A 1,168 vs. 1,570 foot vertical climb! Throw in the altitude (thin air!) and I had myself quite a challenge.
 

It got steep quickly as I climbed from the parking lot at the base. There were a fair amount of soccer moms and lone hikers with dogs... a trail definitely used by locals. I read that the two mile hike is somewhat of a social scene and after work thing to do. It's also called the Town Hill. There are 400 acres of skiable terrain with 3 chairlifts for winter fun.

The trail up is a gravel and dirt road/winter ski run, and there are 5-6 switchbacks on the way up. Ten minutes into my hike, I crossed over from the "straight up" trail to the switchbacks. It was STEEP!The trail is just under 2 miles each way, normally a distance I walk in 30-35 minutes. It took me 70 minutes to climb (trudge up) Snow King!!

The views got better by the minute as I climbed, and wildflowers were everywhere. A chair lift passed overhead carrying the lazy (smart?) people. I continued to climb...

 

 

Below, the town of Jackson got smaller and smaller. The Elk refuge, Tetons and Gros Ventre range all came into view. Mountains and valley as far as the eye could see. It was breathtaking... talk about wide open spaces.

I eventually reached the final switchback and could see the aerial tram tower in the distance with the moon in the sky over it. (center of the photo below) End in sight... 10 more minutes!

At the peak, I was treated to a view off the back side of the mountain into Wilson Canyon toward Dubois and the wildfires.

The chair lift dropped people off, and I got my picture taken by some hikers I met.

There was a map of all the surrounding peaks which was interesting...

I was reminded that some of the trails I climbed up were double black diamond (difficult/advanced) ski runs in the winter time...

Looking back down to town at the terrain I had covered... not a small feat, and now crossed off my list. On to the next challenge/adventure! ;)

Sunday wrap-up...

Another week has gone by. Most people think of Sunday as the beginning of the week. With my days off on Monday and Tuesday each week, Sunday sort of starts my weekend and is my hardest day of work with guest/cabin turnover. Luckily, we have the welcome cocktail party this evening and a wonderful surf and turf dinner to look forward to. We also have 36 new guests this coming week, many returning to the ranch for their umpteenth time.

Last week, I took a loping/canter ride on Tuesday and rode a beautiful Palomino named Diego for the first time.

I was warned that he liked to eat, and as soon as we left the corral, he was on a mission to grab all the musk thistle (large, tall purple clover looking flowers) he could find.

He'd spot them from yards away and try to detour off the trail to get to them. It was sort of cute. I rode with a wrangler that comes here to work for the season from Vero Beach of all places... my "winter home".

We rode north into Grand Teton National park and criss crossed lots of creeks, maybe 6 or 7? The horses are sure footed and it's interesting to watch them find their way across the water, not necessarily following the horse in front of them. We crossed some man made plank bridges too, and Diego looked left and right the whole way across as if they made him nervous. We also stepped over a lot of fallen tees, and the horses were great!

 

There was more water on this ride than any I have done previously. We meandered through the park for about 30 minutes, then emerged onto the levee and paralleled the Snake River. Here we finally took our first canter. Wide open, level with nothing for the horses to trip on.

It was another great ride on a beautiful day with perfect weather. The Tetons 

were always in view.

Tuesday night was Italian night for dinner. I had planned to attend week 2 of the music festival, but around 4pm, there was a huge electrical blackout affecting eastern Idaho, western Wyoming and even Montana! It was due to a substation malfunction, possibly having to do with the wildfires. We were told it could drag on for hours, and I was wondering how the kitchen and guests would handle it. To my amazement, the kitchen pulled out gas burners etc. and prepared the Italian feast anyway, serving it on disposable plates. The power eventually came back on around 8pm and everyone cheered. Crisis averted, although the wildfires are still burning, and some guest ranches to the south and west have been evacuated.

Thursday night was the weekly hayride and cookout. I had the night off and hopped on with a cocktail. This was the view as we rounded a bend on the ranch... all the horses grazing in a field.... beautiful! The cookout was held outside in front of the lodge due to excessive mosquitos at Pete's Pond where they usually have it.

I took this picture (left) from my BED this week... and yes, I can see the Tetons from there ;) As I emerged from my cabin Friday morning, I scared a deer and it scampered away. Last night, I was awakened at 2 am by something grazing/chomping on tree leaves just outside my rear window. I'm guessing it was a moose. Today, I saw a small deer just outside my cabin window, and as I watched it run away, a tiny speckled fawn followed! It never gets old encountering wildlife. I just heard at lunch today that "bear calls" (sightings) are coming in from all around the area. A co-worker saw one on her ride this past week, and another group spotted a mountain lion on their ride.

Around town this week, there are two ongoing wildfires in the Jackson area, still not contained. Another grizzly cub was hit and killed by a tourist in the park. There's a 4H livestock auction and the county fair is in full swing. Over the weekend, a family's raft overturned on a rafting trip, and the father was rescued from the river and seemed fine, but then died unexpectedly once on shore. Saturday, a seasoned mountain guide, 42 years old, fell 2,400 feet to his death while leading a group down from Teton peak just a few miles away. He left behind a wife and two small children. Interesting how different the "news" is out West.

Finally, last night's dinner was among the best I've had here. It was tender, roasted duck in a Port wine sauce, wild rice, spring vegetable medley and spinach salad. Dessert was a delicious chocolate espresso custard of some sort. Amazing! Not a bad week. Temperatures are going to remain in the mid 80s this coming week (highs) and 40s at night, but with low humidity. Perfect.

Rodeo night in Jackson!

I finally got to the Wednesday night rodeo last week. I volunteered to drive guests to the event in the ranch Suburban and got to attend for free ;)

It was a two hour rodeo and began with a patriotic display of the flag and the National Anthem...

Next, there was team steer roping...

 Bronc riding...

 Bull riding...

                                                        Barrel racing (ladies) ...

and a sheep chasing event for kids where they all ran into the arena to try to catch a sheep and remove the bandana from it to win a prize...

Unfortunately, I was across the arena from the bucking chutes and only had my cell phone with me to try to capture the action shots, so they're a bit blurry and small ;(

One of the coolest things I saw was three men that conjured images of the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse (minus 1).  They sat quietly at the edge of the arena until called into action. Personally, I think they're the real stars of the rodeo...

 

A Pick-Up Man’s job is to rescue the cowboy after his eight second ride from a bucking bronc. They gallop up alongside the bucking bronco and literally grab the rider off it and pull him to safety!

The cowboy’s job is to first ride the bucking bronc for the eight second ride with one hand, then grab on with two hands and wait until the Pick-Up Man rides in along side the bronc and picks him up safely. The cowboy is then set to the ground without injury. The Pick-Up Man also removes all equipment from the bronc and removes the bronc from the rodeo arena after the competition. Their thick chaps are custom made, heavy-duty, foam lined and withstand serious run-ins with and scrapes from the walls of the arena and raging beasts!

I borrowed some better pics off the internet to show them in action, grabbing cowboys from bucking broncos and retrieving the raging horses once they've separated from their rider... truly amazing to watch!

It was also fun to just walk around and see the angry caged bulls and the hot cowboys near the bucking chutes ;)  Overall, a great evening...